Ammunition package



April 24, 1945.

'N. H. M KAY AMMUNITION PACKAGE Filed Sept. 7, 1942 Patented Apr. 24, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE (Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) 1 Claim.

The invention described herein may be manu factured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to a package for articles, particularly articles of ammunition and has special reference to a container for a bundle of articles held in a group by end pieces of cloverleaf or similar design.

It is an object of the invention to provide a package which shall be easier to handle and sturdier in service than those previously used for similar purposes.

In the prior practise, ammunition such as projectiles have been carefully secured in a tube and a multiple of these tubes have been assembled in tangential relation and secured by end cup pieces which conform to the periphery of the tube. In the case of a bundle of three this conformity extended around about half the periphery. Groups of such bundles alternated so as to nest were assembled and the whole group placed in an ordinary rectangular box for shipping. It has been found that such treatment was inadequate and that box failures were frequent.

According to the present invention each primary bundle secured by end pieces is placed in a cylindrical container with the extending portions of the peripheries tangent to the interior of the cylinder. The bundle is held in place by rings secured to the cylinder. The cylinder is preferably made of plywood or other easily workable and strong shock absorbing material. The circular container is capable of standing up under heavy and rough usage and may be easily moved by rolling.

The specific nature of the invention as well as other objects and advantages thereof will clearly appear from a description of a preferred embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the container and contents.

Fig. 2 is a foreshortened axial section of the container.

Fig. 3 is a top plan of a container showing a modified retaining ring, and

Fig. 4 is a detail of the retaining ring of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawing by characters of reference there is shown a cylinder I of laminated organic material such as plywood, having a fixed retaining ring 2 in one end upon which is placed the bundle of three cylindrical ammunition containers 3 the latter being held together at all times prior to use by end cups 4 with arched portions 4 conforming to the outer peripheries of the cylinders 3 and having depressed portions 5 between cylinders to give a greater extent of contact with the said outer peripheries. The end cups 4 are held against the cylinders 3 by means of a bolt 6 and nut l. The bundle is retained in the outer cylinder l by a wooden ring 8 which may be secured to the cylinder as by nails 9.

Figures 3 and 4 show a modified metallic retaining ring comprising an annular channel portion In designed to engage the rim of the tube 1, and a flat annulus H with inner edge bent to retain an extra reinforcing annulus l2, the inner edge of annulus ll being scalloped as at 13 to facilitate bending.

While it is not urged that tubular containers are new, yet the herein described use of such with-the cloverleaf type of bundle is an advance over the conventional practise of nesting several such bundles to obtain an optimum space design. In attempting to thus fit such bundles to a rectangular box overloading resulted and the rectangular design of box and wooden material thereof were not adequate to the load. In the present design such disadvantages are overcome and an additional advantage accrues in that the package may be moved by rolling.

Iclaim:

An ammunition package comprising endcaps each having a flat portion of undulating contour and having a continuous arched flange adapted to be fitted over a bundle of packages containing ammunition to retain said packages in bundled position, in combination, with a cylindrical container having therein two'flat faced rings with their outer peripheries in contact with the inner periphery of the container and their opposing fiat faces in contact with a fiat portion of the caps, at least one of said rings being the sole end 

